19 February 2012

Oil pastels with collage






Not a lot of new work has come out of my studio this week  - I missed Illustration Friday :( - but rather than not show anything at all,  I've decided to share a few colourful experimental pieces I've played about with over the last few weeks.  The above little pieces are clips created from a larger work created from small shapes torn from magazine pages with added oil pastel work.  No particular design in mind - just going with the flow....very liberating!  Thanks to Carolyn Saxby for a reminder of this process - I worked from this tutorial by Sue Dove.


Here you can see I have pasted shapes torn from magazines onto a sheet a plain paper.  I did start with  colours in mind... but then I just worked the oil pastels fairly randomly around the shapes.



this is the colourful finished page which I then flipped over and divided up by cutting into the page from the back - that way you don't know exactly where you'll be snipping!



I hope these little rectangles and squares might be inspiration for something in the future..!





I enjoyed the process so much that I had to make more!





 Sliced up sections from the original page make for interesting mini abstracts.




I pasted them into a sketchbook as reference - perhaps for future paintings or textiles.  I've used a few for little additions to handmade cards and collages.  And if they don't get used I think they make a lovely display!




If you've got a set of oil pastels I recommend you have a go!  By the way, the same exercise can be done with paint too - just layer watercolours or acrylics for similar effects!   Have a go!!



Stay tuned for more experiments with inks, watercolour and underwear next!!!!

18 comments:

  1. I love this!!! Thanks sooooo much for showing this and the links ...this looks like soooo much fun and exactly what I needed ....I am too busy binding books and sewing ,,,I neeeed to get messy:) I will be doing this tomorrow...your examples are FABULOUS!!! thanks sssssooooo much!!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Hi Cynnie! So glad you like this it's something I like to do when I have a few spare minutes -you can switch off and just let the pastel do it's thing! Hope you have fun with the technique! C

      Delete
  2. Whaaaaaaaat? Underwear???? Ooooh, I'm so intrigued!

    Wowie, what a liberating exercise! It sure looks like fun. I wish my experiments looked half as good as yours!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Hello Bella! Not quite burn your bra stuff, but plenty of ripping goes on!

      Delete
  3. Delicious idea! Your experimental pieces have turned out beautifully.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Thanks Robyn - I love these spontaneous pieces that really don't involve any planning - it's nice to 'find' little gems within!

      Delete
  4. Thanks for this Caroline. I will try it as I need to 'free up'! Love your mini abstracts.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Hi Nicky - yes - it's fun to have nothing particular in mind and find little surprises when it's finished!

      Delete
  5. Replies
    1. Hi Brigitte, Thanks - oil pastels do look vibrant on the paper!

      Delete
  6. Beautiful! Maybe I'll play around with this idea sometime. I really like what you've done with this. Thanks for sharing!

    ReplyDelete
  7. I love this idea. So much better than a blank piece of paper. I especially love cutting it up afterwards from the back.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Mim - the slicing up is the exciting part - though I admit to cheating a bit so that I get the words in one piece!

      Delete
  8. Wow, Caroline!! Love these!! I remember battling with oil pastels in school and even getting an F on a project with them. Oh how I battled..you now have my interest piqued and I may just have to dig them out..how cool!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. LOL! Yes Shirley - I agree they're not the easiest tool to handle - especially if you are used to detailed work - but they are great for 'letting go'!!

      Delete
  9. Very interesting process! I'm feeling creatively stumped at present so maybe this is the jump-start I need. I'll give it a go and see what happens. Thanks!

    ReplyDelete
  10. Do give it a try Katie - it's good fun!

    ReplyDelete

Thank you for passing by. I love to read your comments!

LinkWithin

Blog Widget by LinkWithin